Men’s Basketball: Weekly Recap

The Central Community College men's basketball team went 1-2 from Feb. 4 through Feb. 11. A recap of each game is below. The Raiders are 17-9 on the season and will battle North Platte Community College on Friday night at 7:30 p.m. at the Raider Fieldhouse. A reminder that Friday is Military Appreciation Night.

Game 1: Northeast Community College 66  CCC 55 (Feb. 4)

The visiting Hawks took the lead at the 6:10 mark of the first half and never relinquished in the 11-point win. The Raiders were down 32-26 at halftime and managed to pull to within five points with just over two minutes remaining. However, CCC was unable to score the rest of the way.

"We guarded well enough to win, but we played too timid and choppy on the offensive end," said CCC head coach John Ritzdorf. "We didn't finish enough plays around the basket or hit enough free throws to win a tough, defensive game. We simply need to be better offensively coming down the final stretch of the season."

Josh Baker and PJ Davis each scored 11 points to lead CCC in scoring while Blake Daberkow finished with 10 points.

Game 2: Des Moines Area Community College 82  CCC 63 (Feb. 8)

The Raiders built a six-point lead midway through the first half when the Bears came to life with a 31-9 run en route to a 45-30 halftime lead. In the second half, CCC pulled to within nine points on a Gil Jengmer layup with 14:32 remaining, but that was as close as it got. DMACC scored 46 points in the paint and bested CCC's bench, 46-22.

"We are really struggling on the offensive side of the basketball," Ritzdorf said. "It's going to be really hard to beat these tough teams down the stretch when we shoot 35 percent from the field."

Trey Deveaux led the Raiders with 14 points while Derek Merwick finished with 11 points.

Game 3: CCC 93  Iowa Central Community College 80 (Feb. 11)

Three CCC players scored at least 20 points and led the Tritons by as many as 26 points as the Raiders snapped a two-game slide. As a team, the Raiders nailed 13 three-point buckets and scored 21 points off 15 ICCC turnovers.

Derek Merwick led all scorers with 26 points while Davis added 23 points and Jayden Byabato tallied 21 points. Deveaux rounded out the double-digit scoring with 13 points.

"This is the best we've played offensively in a long time," said Ritzdorf. "Our ball movement and decision making in making the right play was fantastic, and it showed with multiple guys having very good games and the balance in our scoring."